You can find a lot of inspiration from the hawker foods of Penang and Singapore (laksa, chicken rice, nasi lemak, char kuey teow, noodles, endless)...India has great snack foods as well such as chaats, etc...Israeli falafel stalls with all the fresh salads are awesome...Japan has great street foods from grilled shellfish to noodles to skewers to octopus balls to okonomiyaki (pardon my spelling).And don't forget Europe in all this pan-Asian/Mexican excitement, meats of all kinds on sticks and breads, herring, pies, currywurst, chips, sandwiches...

Had I known my comment would help this conversation devolve into a discussion like this I would not have posted, or I would have posted more clearly. I do not have a grip with Mu, I have a gripe with the fact that I've traveled much of the world and always found solace in a bowl of cheap, tasty noodles wherever I went.

But here at home while it's still possible in the Chinese or processed variety to get bargain eats we are stuck paying very high prices for albeit high quality ramen. At the same the U.S. has pretty much the world's lowest food prices, but only if you buy the least healthy food.

That being said I have been known to place a pig's foot or three plus a few pounds of chicken bones in the slow cooker for 40 hours or so and have had truly great results. Plus Sun Noodle now sells its noodles in the refrigerated section at H-Mart.

I've been to the new Southern Spice a few times and I thought it was great. It's BYOB if you need beer to put out the fire. Even closer there are a number of Indian places on Hillside Avenue in Eastern Queens/Western Nassau before you hit Southern Spice. You can keep driving and SriPraPhai will be a little bit further on your left.

I went there recently as well. I thought the asam laksa was very good. The roti canai and tom yum soup were good as well and am looking forward to trying the other rotis.I satay babi (pork belly) was very good. My wife really liked the oyster omelet but that's not really my thing so I can't speak for it.I thought the nasi lemak was pretty average but on par with what you would find in Malaysia. My wife and I always get the same thing on our first visit to Malaysian restaurants and base whether or not to return on their quality. We will definitely return and try other dishes.

Fino and BKNY are definitely two of the best restaurants in the area. Cana for Korean too, family style. I'm hoping a fellow Chowhounder can break down all of these other Korean joints that keep opening on Northern in Bayside but so far no luck.

I didn't mention Med Grill because it sounded like you were looking for more moderately priced options.

I had a good dinner at Thai 101 on Bell recently. I do Avli for Greek takeout. Never been to Blue Water. The new Indian place on Bell has a promising menu and I plan on going in the next few weeks. Durso's is my favorite Italian market.